Prof. Somenath Mitra at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and his research team have created a new type of photovoltaic cell that can be applied to flexible plastic sheets by either painting or printing processes. The hope is to eventually allow…

The problem with looking at apparent trends over a short time period is that what looks like a trend one day may be nothing more than a statistical blip. Looked at over a slightly longer period, it may turn out to be unsustainable. Nonetheless,…

Saab's decision to start down-sizing goes into full effect in 2009 with the debut of the new 9-5. The 9-5 is expected to break out the Geneva Motor Show in March. Saab's largest car will be built on the new Epsilon II architecture that debuted last…

Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko said the company plans to start selling an electric car similar to the hybrid concept they showed at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show. The car is likely to be based on the next-generation Colt platform which is smaller…

Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan – click above for high-res image gallery
Mercedes-Benz has a pretty ambitious goal to grow its U.S. sales by 30 percent over the next five years, and execs apparently think they will need to expand downmarket to do it.…

There can be absolutely no doubt that Detroit automakers created some horrendous products over the years. The '70s was a particularly low point, as the Big 3 struggled to cope with new safety, emissions and fuel economy standards. This past weekend,…

For the past eleven years, Riverside Park in Ypsilanti, Michigan has played host to the Orphan Car Show, an event devoted to autos that were either built by companies that are no longer in business or just interesting models that are no longer in…

Tesla has announced that it's moving from its current digs in San Carlos, CA a few miles down the road to Palo Alto. The EV start-up will take over a three-building complex in the Stanford Research Park formerly occupied by Silicon Valley pioneers…

2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid – Click above for high-res image gallery
It's not at all unusual for automakers to pay lip service to cutting weight of their vehicles, but it is pretty rare for a new model to come out weighing nearly 10 percent less…

2011 Opel Meriva – Click above for high-res image gallery
When Opel showed off a concept version of the next-generation Meriva at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, everyone expected the production version to look much the same. After all, the concept…